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Write a script for the engineers to follow when they tape things. Have that script ensure they follow all the possible branches in the process. Insist they must follow that script, otherwise they'll do nothing but take the assumed-all-good straightline path to doing the job in the shortest possible time, and they won't cover all the possiblities. Point that out to your boss.
Point out the fact that without a script, there is no way to ensure that the video tape will cover everything that has to be covered for the customer's good, and if the videotape doesn't cover everything the customers need to know, the customers will complain and business will suffer.
Point out the fact that creating the script will require time and coordination with the engineers. Point out the fact that working out in advance what to shoot will probably take longer than just asking questions of the engineers.
Point out the fact that if the engineers work without a script, and the docs that the customer gets are not good because the videotape wasn't good, then it is the engineers who are responsible for the problem with the customers. Point out that fact to the engineers, too.
Point out to the boss AND the engineers that the boss wants to add more workload to the engineers, who make more money and are supposedly more important to the company.
Point out to the boss and the engineers the fact that shooting tapes will take just as much time as your asking them questions, so there's no savings there. And when you factor in the cost of the time AND equipment AND supplies required for the enginers to shoot tapes, IN ADDITION TO DOING THEIR NORMAL JOB, it will actually take longer to develop the information. And since the engineers make more, the hourly cost of making tapes is more than the hourly cost of your people asking them questions. (Have a private conversation with the chief engineer and mention casually, as if it's nothing, that if the boss wants to force the engineers to bear all the burden of developing the information that has to go into the docs - in addition to doing their real job - that's fine with you because you've already got enough work.)
Point out the fact that interviewing the engineers and getting answers from them can usually be done while the engineers are actually working on the marketable product, thus saving time - that is NOT true of this video taping idea.
And, as others have pointed out, start polishing your resume. The fact your boss sees docs as a necessary evil instead of an integral part of the process is all you need to know about what the future holds for you. In his efforts to cut costs he will follow the path of least resistance, and if he is successful in his initial attempt to squeeze blood out of your stones, he will come back to your department for quick and easy results any time he wants to do something that lets him claim a savings on the quarterly report.
Good luck.
--- On Mon, 7/28/08, Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com> wrote:
> From: Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
> Subject: Information gathering.....
> To: "'TECHWR-L''" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 4:32 PM
> HI all,
>
>
>
> I'm in a typical situation..my writing staff has been
> reduced by half, the
> project load has grown and the deadlines are shrinking.
> (Sound familiar?) My
> department head has decided that the problems with us
> falling behind is
> because our information gathering is inefficient. (He has
> never worked as a
> technical writer and views technical publications as a
> necessary evil rather
> than a valued component of the company's products.)
> The department head is
> pushing for us to incorporate video taping into the
> information gathering
> process. His idea is to have the engineers videotape the
> setup/alignment
> process so we won't have to bother them with questions.
> Those same engineers
> would discuss the various components making up the systems.
> (These systems
> use pneumatics, hydraulics, and electronics to align and
> bond silicon wafers
> and are extremely precise.) We would take the tapes and
> write the books.
> Reviews would be accomplished by training as they train the
> field service
> staff. (How they would know what is correct or what is and
> error was not
> part of his proposal.)
>
>
>
> Prior to my arrival at this company, the "lone
> technical writer" worked
> part-time and did litter more than stuff material written
> by the engineers
> into a Word template and shoved it out the door. There was
> no review of the
> material. The result was garbage. I have worked hard to
> move the
> publications beyond those dark days to a professional level
> and do not want
> to go backwards. (I should add that our company is going
> through a change in
> management and board of directors. It is a subsidiary of a
> German
> corporation. We have a new CFO who is in cost cutting mode
> and is only
> looking at bottom line. My Department Head is a long-time
> employee, but in a
> new position. He wants to look good.)
>
>
>
> Has anyone had experience incorporating video in the
> information gathering
> process for technical publications? How did it work for you
> (or did it
> work)? Did it vastly improve efficiency, or was the
> development time about
> the same? If you used video, what did you have to do to
> ensure the
> information you got was worthwhile?
>
>
>
> Any and all help/information on this subject will be gladly
> accepted.
>
>
>
> That bottle of Rare Vos is looking pretty good right about
> now.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Al Geist
>
> Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video,
> Photography
>
> Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
>
> Cell: 802-578-3964
>
> Website: www.geistassociates.com
>
> See Also:
>
> Fine Art Photography
>
> Website: www.geistimages.com
>
>
>
> "...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking.
> Better to be a pilgrim
> without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong
> threshold each
> day." (Sy Safransky)
>
>
>
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